The Fraying of Prosocial Behavior Development -are we Losing Self-Control?

Abstract

<p>While we generally have a clear idea that positive community actions are based on prosocial and inclusive attitudes, the last decades have produced ever more visible evidence of violent behavior against individuals often not even known to the perpetrators, as well as distinct acts of aggression that seem to lack any clear motivation. Death by individually executed violent acts have also affected family life, producing an alarming number of incidents of violence against women in their own home. International IQ scores have simultaneously taken a downward trend. It is suggested that such seemingly diverse and independent criteria ought to be viewed together. This paper makes the case that modern technological devices might well play a significant, if not crucial, part in diminishing opportunities for any healthy prosocial and cognitive development during childhood. The role of hormones and neurotransmitters is outlined here to demonstrate how trigger events during learning generally, and learning of social cohesion specifically, can be intercepted, slowed or even prevented--to the detriment of the individual and society.</p>